I dunno about you, but lovely warm sunshiney weather either makes me want to a) eat/drink my body weight in ice cream, pizza and cocktails or b) eat shit tons of salad and fruit. There is no in between. However, I weighed myself recently and I’m the heaviest I’ve ever been, so I’ve decided enough is enough. It’s time to make changes to my diet and get back to my pre-college weight which is when I felt my most confident.
I’ve been making all my meals from scratch, drinking lots of water, upping my fruit and veg intake and falling back in love with cooking. My main meals are fine, but snacking is my biggest vice. I can eat really healthy all day, then get to about 8 p.m. and turn into a human hoover who eats EVERYTHING in the house because I want a sweet or savoury snack. To combat this, I’m now making sure I have lots of healthy/relatively healthy snacks on hand for when the craving hits. Some snacks I make myself, others I buy for a grab-and-go option to put in my handbag and avoid grabbing a bar of chocolate if I get peckish when I’m out and about. So without further ado…
Sweet
1. Banana with almond butter – this is self explanatory. Bananas are given a bad rep for being high in carbs and fruit sugar, and they are relatively high in calories, but I find them great for curbing a craving. The almond butter is full of healthy fats to balance out the blood sugar spike from the banana – apparently if you eat fruit you should have it with something high in good fats, and fruit with nut butter is a winning combination. I love the Meridian almond butter – it’s 100% almonds and palm oil free, but I think Tesco now do their own almond butter too.
2. Nakd bars – these are really popular, and for a good reason. They’re made of 100% fruit and nuts and are pretty tasty with a cup of tea. They come in loads of different flavours too so there’s something for everyone.
3. Walkers Sunbites Sweet Caramel/Sweet ‘n’ Salty popcorn – I got a multipack of the different flavours of Sunbites wholegrain popcorn from Lidl (currently 2 for €2) and they are delish. The multipack includes caramel, sweet ‘n’ salty and plain salted flavours of popcorn. The little bags are only around 60 calories each and they’re so yummy. I love popcorn but since our High School Musical popcorn machine gave up the ghost (RIP, best €1 ever spent) I haven’t really been eating it much. These are great to bring with you and are full of fibre too!
4. Googly Fruit freeze dried fruit – I love the texture of freeze dried fruit, and Googly Fruit’s freeze dried strawberries are really yummy. Their products are aimed at kids but who’s gonna arrest me for eating them, the freeze dried fruit police? They’re 100% organic and 100% fruit so perfect for a healthy snack with a crunch.
Savoury
1. Lidl Lentil Curls – these are delish. I think they’re new as I only got them the other day, they remind me of the Eat Real lentil crisps which are also amazing. These come in little multipacks and are a nice, healthier alternative to crisps.
2. Love, Corn – one of my fave savoury snacks. Love, Corn do roasted crunchy corn in chili, sea salt or BBQ flavour and they’re so addictive. Healthier than a bag of crisps but just as satisfying.
3. Jacob’s Mediterraneo crackers – I dunno if anyone else as a kid used to get those crackers with the holes in them for school lunches, these are kind of like those but they come in more sophisticated (can a cracker be sophisticated?) flavours like Olive & Herbs and Tomato & Basil – which are the ones I love. They’re gorgeous just on their own or topped with some cream cheese/hummus, and they come in really handy snack packs.
4. Kerry GoGo’s snack packs – I think these are a great idea. They contain crunchy beans, cheese bites and flapjack pieces/chorizo (which I haven’t tried as I’m veggie but good for a meat lover!)/chocolate covered coffee beans for a well rounded and satisfying snack. Again, great to pop in your bag and a nice mix of flavours and textures!
5. Graze Veggie Protein Power snack pack – high in protein with the edamame beans, spicy chickpeas and black pepper cashews, these are a great filling snack for on-the-go. Graze also do lovely sweet snacks too and all their stuff is gorgeous.
6. Sowans nut snack packs – these come in a multipack too, with mini packs of cashews and almonds. They’re all under 100 calories which is great because I find it hard to portion control with nuts! Again, a really handy snack to bring with you and surprisingly filling.
So those are just a few of my fave snacks. I love having variety in my diet, especially when it comes to snacks. I’ll keep you posted on how my health journey is going as time goes on – here’s hoping I actually commit to it for once! I’m already feeling so much better after just a few days and I’m excited to get fitter and healthier. Let me know what your favourite healthy snacks are! Thanks for reading.
P.S. this blog isn’t sponsored and I wasn’t sent any of the items mentioned (I wish, haha!) I just genuinely love them all.
life according to lucy 